Export Licences

The owner of a Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) painting has been temporarily prevented from exporting the picture by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The government is hoping to find a buyer to pay £3.5m to keep an 18th century picture by Joseph Wright of Derby in the UK.

Fundraising led by writers’ association English PEN has helped save for the nation the judge’s annotated copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover'.

Defra has added Dover and the Eurotunnel to the list of ports that will accept the import and export of CITES-listed natural history specimens.

A Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96) picture valued at £9.5m will be exported overseas unless funding can be raised to keep it in the UK.

Claude Monet’s ‘Le Palais Ducal’ has been temporarily blocked from export in the hope that a UK buyer can raise the £28.2m needed.

A JMW Turner landscape valued at £10m will be exported overseas unless funding can be raised to keep it in the UK.

A rare portrait of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky has been temporarily stopped from export from the UK in the hope a museum can raise the funds to keep it in the country.

The Newbattle Abbey Kunstkammer is the latest work of art to be granted an export licence this year, despite the arts minister’s attempts to retain them for the nation.

An 18th century watercolour by the artist who John Constable described as a genius has been barred from export in the hope a UK buyer can be found.

A ‘colossal and extraordinary grotesque grinning crab’ by the Martin Brothers that sold at auction last year has been temporarily barred from export from the UK.

Writers’ association English PEN has launched a campaign to raise the £56,250 needed to buy the judge's copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover' that has been barred from export.

The government has temporarily stopped the export of the judge's copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover' from the infamous obscenity trial.

The government is hoping to find a buyer for four works - three rugs and a painted screen - by Francis Bacon (1909-92) in the hope of keeping them in the country.

A sketch by Dutch artist Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533) has been temporarily blocked from export in the hope of finding a UK buyer.

The notebooks of Charles Darwin’s mentor, the Scottish geologist Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), have been temporarily blocked from export in the hope of finding a UK buyer.

A 16th century marquetry casket long in the collection of Scotland’s Newbattle Abbey has been placed under export bar in a bid to keep it in the country.

A rare 350-year-old cabinet made by Baroque craftsman Giacomo Herman (1615-85) has been temporarily barred from export by the UK government in the hope it will be bought by a buyer in the UK.

A pair of ‘champagne’ lamps designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí has been bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum and will be reunited with Dalí’s Mae West Lips sofa.